Troublesome
by Yurutono
Summary: Amanda didn't think she'd ever get so lucky. But she couldn't help but worry that she would cause Lotte trouble. (Non-magic AU)


"Hey, you can't smoke out here!"

"Pfft," Amanda blew out the smoke in his face, "Whaddaya gonna do about it? I'm waitin' for someone, I'll be out of your hair soon, princess."

Flicking her cigarette end to the ground, she stamped it out as the wannabe policeman, seemingly, slinked away and left her to her own devices.

This area of town was too good for her. Too clean, a distinct lack of abandoned buildings, depressing and dingy warehouses, and less litter around. Perfect for her girlfriend, but less so for herself. Amanda felt like a fish out of water and worse of all, looked like one too. Facial piercings and even a few dodgily acquired tattooes in select places of her body, mostly hidden though, under a grubby looking vest and a black leather jacket, ripped jeans and boots.

She looked quite the picture outside of the library, of all places. Shifting irritably on one foot to the other, she silently begged for Lotte to come out soon, piled high with as many books as she wanted, hell, she would even help her carry them if she just came out within the next minute or so.

Answering her prayers, the door slid open and Lotte stepped out, book clutched to her chest as she happily made her way to Amanda's side.

"I'm ready to go," She smiled, "You know, I think one day you should come in with me. You might find something you like."

"Ehh," Amanda scratched at the back of her neck, "Probl'y not. I never had the patience to read. What book do you have anyway?"

"Volume two hundred and fifty seven of Night Fall."

"Night Fall? That thing you said has a ridiculous amount of volumes?" She said, pushing her way off from the wall and starting to walk with Lotte, whom eagerly jumped to her side.

"Yep! I'm re-reading this one, it's one of my favourites."

"Favourites, huh?" Amanda said, purposely taking a turn further into the nicer looking city centre, knowing full well that Lotte probably felt uncomfortable within the roughened outskirts, not that she ever pressed it. Amanda was always the one to meet up with Lotte, never the other way around. Amanda wasn't even sure if Lotte knew her address.

"Yeah! It had an amazing twist and really, it ended one of Arthur's character arcs-"

Whilst Lotte's rambling was endearing to Amanda, it sort of went in one ear and out the other. She enjoyed her presence and how she was so enthusiastic about this kind of thing, but she was never one for understanding complex plots and stories. She concentrated on things she cared about, not that she would be rude to Lotte.

"Huh. Sounds interesting."

Lotte suddenly hugged into Amanda's arm and Amanda couldn't help but startle a little, before then letting herself relax with a smile. They had been getting gradually more comfortable with each other, despite numerous differences between them. In fact, Amanda was amazed Lotte had even agreed to dating, especially when she'd only confessed to get the damn crush out of her head. Comfort was being gained, ground was being made and these little moments only made Amanda feel luckier and luckier as more time was spent.

"Where do you wanna go today anyway?"

"Well, there was a cafe I wanted to check out, if that's okay."

"Sure. I'm paying for ya by the way."

"Eh?" She blinked, "Y-you really don't need to do that for me…"

"Well, not only do I want to, you're my girlfriend right? 'Sides, it's no skin off my back."

"If… If you insist."

Amanda thought for a moment that she might have upset Lotte in some way, but regardless, she would insist upon paying anyway. Lotte was in education and didn't have a job yet, whilst Amanda herself was the opposite. Working in a garage was actually far better than going to school, she reasoned.

"This the place?" She asked when Lotte softly tugged on her arm, bringing her attention to a pristine white building in front of them, "It's, ah… Flashy."

"Ah, sorry if it's not the kind of place you're used to going… We don't have to go inside." Lotte insisted earnestly.

"Nah, you want to go, so we'll go. C'mon," She said, working her hand in Lotte's and squeezing gently.

Come to think of it, Lotte seemed to have become a calming influence in her life. Before, she had been confined the garage and getting into all kinds of trouble, even noting that it was a miracle she hadn't been arrested at all, especially after the incident with Constanze's ridiculous sound system. How was she to know it was that loud? Then again, she couldn't risk being arrested. She could only imagine how much disapproval points that would likely get from Lotte's parents, even though she had never met them yet. It was too early for that though. And whilst she admitted she liked her drinks every now and then, it seemed that she was managing to cut down her intake slowly. Instead of getting wasted every now and again, there was the little thought that she was to meet with Lotte.

Although this cafe was far too good with her, she'd buck up and go inside. She was never one to be beaten by these kinds of tasks, so she confidently stepped over the boundary of the cafe, girlfriend hugged into her arm.

The scent was pleasant enough, although Amanda preferred the familiar smell of the garage, of grease and oil. But she wouldn't complain.

Seating themselves, Amanda was a little bit worried that some of her blackened clothing would stain the furniture it was so white. It was almost like a sterile environment.

"Are you alright?" Lotte asked, "You seem a bit uncomfortable here."

"Huh? Nah, I'm fine," Amanda said dismissively, leaning her arms on the table. Perhaps she was looking around too much, taking in the people and the interior, when that wasn't what she needed to focus on, "Don't worry about me."

Despite the fact that she was getting the few occasional glances, Amanda tried her best to relax for not only her own, but for Lotte's sake as well. She didn't want to bring guilt on her by having a miserable time or acting like she didn't want to be there. Besides, all of these steps only made her feel as though she were slotting better into the kind of places that Lotte fit in. Maybe she would need to work on a few things, but otherwise, she was doing alright on that front.

"Oh? Lotte, who's this?" A voice piped up behind Amanda and she irritably raised an eyebrow.

"O-oh, Hannah… Barbara… This is Amanda."

Amanda twisted herself around to face the two girls, eyes flitting between the two of them with a thinly veiled scowl. The tone that they used wasn't friendly and Lotte had even sounded downtrodden immediately when addressing them, but she didn't want to create any trouble, so she otherwise fell silent.

"Amanda? Do you live around here?"

"Yeah."

"That's strange, I've never seen you in school before. Oh-! Don't tell me! Lotte's befriended a delinquent, or worse, a drop-out!"

Her fist clenched on the table and she was tempted to stand up and give the girls a piece of her mind and more, before she saw Lotte's expression and settled herself back down. It was an expression that told her they weren't worth it.

"I'd rather be a drop-out than a bitch. Fuck off," She said, jerking her head before huffing and turning herself to face Lotte properly.

"Hannah, Barbara. We're done, let's leave."

Just as the two girls were about to give an indignant retort and an exclamation of how rude she was, attempting to mock her further and likely planning to use Lotte as a device to do so, another voice spoke up and anything they were about to say was lost as the two skittered off to her side.

Amanda didn't know the other, but the look she was giving her didn't sit well with her at all. She was half tempted to even ask her what her problem was, looking down at her like that before the trio left the cafe with a pleasant ring of a bell.

"Sorry…" Lotte said quietly, whilst Amanda shook her head.

"Forget them. Who was the alpha bitch though?"

Upon seeing Lotte's expression, she awkwardly scratched her other arm.

"Sorry. Who was the _other_ girl." That was another thing she would have to get used to. Cutting down on cussing.

"Diana Cavendish. She's the top student of the school I go to and she's part of a rich family."

"Pssh. Rich girl. How did I know?" Amanda huffed, "Nevermind. But if you have any trouble with them, tell me."

"I-I'll be fine, thank you though…"

Soon enough, they fell back into a more comfortable conversation and Lotte had decided to fill Amanda in on the goings on at school. She had heard stories about her friends before, but they always seemed to find ways to outshine the previous story Lotte told. She had two main friends, Akko and Sucy.

From what she could gather, Akko had managed to blag her way into the school through sheer luck alone, picked from a random lottery to allow someone into the school to bring up the dragging numbers of enrollment and Sucy had gotten in on a chemistry scholarship. She scraped passes in her other subjects, likely because she simply didn't care about them, but excelled at that one subject, as well as biology, even more so than anyone else. And whilst Akko typically tried her hardest, she was quite simply, in Amanda's own words, too idiotic, it seemed.

"The more you tell me about Akko, the more I think she's a dunce."

"Ah, well, she's really passionate though. She studies quite hard, even if she doesn't always get the material. I try and help her and Sucy does to an extent as well."

"Can I just ask? Do Hannah, Barbara and Diana cause you any problems at school?" Amanda leaned forward curiously.

"Well… Akko is a bit of a target, but it's nothing we can't handle. If anything, Akko seems all the more determined as she's put down by them."

"You've been put down by them before?" Amanda raised an eyebrow.

"No… I know they don't like me particularly for befriending Akko, but I try to avoid them."

Lotte didn't want to mention it, but now that she'd been seen with Amanda, they might try and target her more often. Amanda could likely guess, but she was sure she could handle it. Oftentimes, Lotte managed to brush it off, which did seem rather surprising to herself.

At this point, the both of them had finished with the drinks and Amanda had paid for the both of them, with a few admittedly crumpled notes as she stood to leave with her.

If one thing was for sure though, Amanda didn't have a good feeling about those girls.


End file.
